GRAINS-Soy slides for 2nd day, corn eases on harvest pressure

Reuters Staff

5 Min Read

* Corn, wheat fall almost 1 pct; soy down 0.7 pct
* Corn, soybeans lower on U.S. harvest pressure
* Favorable weather for U.S. winter wheat planting
* Australian wheat stocks fall 20 pct m/m in August
(Adds details, quotes)
By Naveen Thukral
SINGAPORE, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Chicago soybeans fell for a
second consecutive session on Monday and corn slid almost 1
percent, pressured by a rapidly advancing U.S. harvest which is
bringing fresh supplies to the market.
Wheat gave up 1 percent to fall from Friday's five-week top
as favourable weather for the U.S. winter crop planting and
supplies from India weighed on the market.
The grain markets got a boost last week following Federal
Reserve's latest stimulus plan which is expected to buoy risk
appetite. But the progress of corn and soybean harvest in the
U.S. Midwest prompted investors to sell.
Traders are expecting the corn harvest to be 20-25 percent
complete as of Sunday, up from 15 percent. The soybean harvest,
which was 4 percent complete last week, is picking up speed and
could be 10 percent finished.
The harvest pressure on corn and soybeans is unlikely to be
as heavy as previous years due to the drought devastating crops
this year and the slow pace of farmer sales.
The fields harvested so far show a big variance in corn
yields. Analysts said yields averaged just 5 to 10 bushels in
some fields to 160 to 175 bushels in others, due to weather and
soil conditions.
"The sentiment in the grain markets is generally bearish
because of the harvest pressure in the United States," said
Lynette Tan, investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.
"The wheat market is coming under pressure because of
supplies from India and the U.S. weather which is favourable for
planting the winter crop."
Chicago Board of Trade December wheat fell 1 percent
to $9.15-1/4 a bushel by 0308 GMT and the new-crop December corn
lost 1 percent to $7.74-1/2 a bushel. November soy
slid 0.7 percent to $17.27 a bushel.
India is selling wheat to the Middle East and Asia as it
tries to get rid of some of its burdensome grain stocks.
India's wheat stocks at government warehouses on Aug. 1 were
47.5 million tonnes, about three times the official target of
17.1 million tonnes for the quarter ending September.
India's government-backed State Trading Corp has
floated a tender to export 120,000 tonnes of wheat for shipments
in October and November.
On Friday, U.S. wheat futures jumped to a five-week high and
corn firmed after the U.S. Federal Reserve's announcement of
stimulus measures.
Asian stocks held steady on Monday and gold, oil and copper
hovered near multi-month highs, after markets rallied late last
week on hopes that fresh stimulus measures from the developed
world's big central banks will support flagging growth.
The wheat market has been supported by expectations that
Russia, the world's fourth largest exporter, will run out of
supplies before the year-end and dry weather is curbing yields
in Australia.
Traders expect demand to shift away from Russia to France
and the United States, the world's top exporter where prices
have been edging closer to those of competitors.
Australia, the world's No. 2 exporter, is also witnessing
brisk exports of wheat amid global supply worries. Australian
wheat stocks at the end of August dropped by about a fifth from
a month ago, government data showed on Monday.
Grains prices at 0308 GMT
Contract Last Change Pct chg MA 30 RSI
CBOT wheat 915.25 -9.00 -0.97% 874.92 68
CBOT corn 774.50 -7.50 -0.96% 767.73 36
CBOT soy 1727.00 -12.00 -0.69% 1588.11 50
CBOT rice $15.35 $0.08 +0.49% $15.48 64
WTI crude $99.17 $0.17 +0.17% $89.29 79
Currencies
Euro/dlr $1.312 $0.083 +6.77%
USD/AUD 1.052 -0.004 -0.34%
Most active contracts
Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight
RSI 14, exponential
(Editing by Himani Sarkar)
(naveen.thukral@thomsonreuters.com; +65-6870-3829; Reuters
Messaging: naveen.thukral.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)